Pre-tax profits at a leading player in the European data centre sector, the Dublin headquartered Mercury Engineering, last year surged by 20% to €81.53m.
The increase in pre-tax profits at Mercury Holdings Ltd and subsidiaries came as revenues declined by 6% from €1.7 billion to €1.59 billion.
Numbers employed at the group increased by 221 from 2,746 to 2,967 as staff costs went up from €237.26m to €253.37m.
The firm last year paid out a dividend of €49.3m which followed a dividend payout of €28.4m in 2022.
The "pan-European company" operates in 16 countries with the group describing itself as "the undisputed leading player in the EU Data-centre sector and works with all Top 10 players in the market as general contractor and fit out/retrofit projects".
The main activity of the group - which has its headquarters at the Sandyford Industrial Estate in Dublin - is the design and installation of mechanical and electrical systems.
In his report, Mercury Engineering CEO Eoin Vaughan states that "continuing the trend from 2022, the financial year 2023 was a year of further progression and organic growth for Mercury".
"We were able to focus on refining the operational structure of the group, leading to some financial highlights in the short term, but also positioning the business for long-term future growth," he added.
"Highlights include continued strong performance in the Data Centre sector, growth in the Life Sciences sector, and scope for the business to expand our Semiconductor operations in Europe," he added.
Mr Vaughan said that the €512m in Irish and UK revenues predominantly related to the Advanced Technology sector while €1.07 billion revenues from 'Europe' was mainly focused on the delivery of data centres in key markets of Germany - €496.3m, France €235.8m and Benelux €57.8m.
"The Group has a strong order book for 2024 with 88% of the forecasted revenue secured for 2024 by the end of 2023. Backlog, which we measure as contracted and awarded work not completed, amounted to €2.09bn, at year end," he said.
"Mercury continues to see a strong pipeline of work in the data centre sector which aligns with our business model for a high quality order book and good visibility," he added.
"We expect the business divisions to grow in FY2024. In addition, the Group sees great growth opportunities in the Life Sciences sectors. As a result of the positive order book and new sector opportunities, the Group expects to generate strong revenue and profit growth across the business in FY 2024," he added.
"This will be underpinned by our strong operational capabilities and considered approach to management of working capital," Mr Vaughan added.
The group's European revenues marginally increased to €1.074 billion during the year while Irish and UK revenues decreased by 17% from €621.59m to €511.99m.
The firm works with blue chip retailers, corporations and pharma businesses and some of the firm's other projects here work on biopharma giant, Regeneron's Limerick plant, LinkedIn's EMEA Dublin HQ and the Irish Aviation Authority’s Air Traffic Control Tower at Dublin airport.
Nine directors served during 2023 and pay to directors increased by 79% from €3.43m to €6.1m.
The directors’ pay last year was made up of salary and benefits of €5.9m and pension contributions of €206,000.
In 2017, management at Mercury Engineering finalised a deal to acquire the firm from the family of its founder Frank O’Kane.
At the end of last year, accumulated profits stood at €216m. The business's cash funds increased from €169.1m to €224.43m.
The group last year recorded post tax profits of €67.05m after incurring a corporation tax charge of €14.48m. The profits take account of non-cash depreciation costs of €2.91m.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
